Business
Bulgaria ranked 64th in 2006 Index of Economic Freedom, according to a survey prepared by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.

The 12th annual Index of Economic Freedom, released on Wednesday, grades 157 countries. They receive a 1-5 rating with one being the best on 10 broad measures of economic freedom: trade policy, fiscal burden of government, government intervention in the economy, monetary policy, capital flows and foreign investment, banking and finance, wages and prices, property rights, regulation and informal (or black) market activity. Those scores are averaged to create an overall score.

The top finishers - Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland and Luxembourg are classified as free economies. Iceland moved up three spaces to No. 5, where it is tied with the United Kingdom. The United States improved enough to re-enter the top 10 after falling out last year for the first time ever. It's tied for 9th worldwide with Australia and New Zealand.

Bulgaria's average score is 2.88. The country has slipped down by twelve spots in comparison with last year, when it ranked 52nd.